Forever and always, until the end (Fred Weasley&Anertha Diggory) WattyAwards2013

Two can play at that game

Written 15/10/2013

Two can play at that game.

The night air outside was turning bitter, frost was beginning to form on each blade of grass. Lorelei Diggory stood idly in the kitchen, looking out into meadow that stretched out before her home, a mug of tea in-between her hands. Her husband was still working, she worried ever so much when he wasn't home before dark. 

'Mum!' Came a distant small voice from behind her. 'Muuuuuuum!' It was clearer this time. She snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head to see her daughter Anertha looking up at her tired and disheveled, clearly she had just come from her bed. 'Sweetheart you should be in bed.' She sighed. 

'I can't sleep! I've been tossing and turning for the last 3 hours!' She moaned. Lorelei lead Anertha into the living room and sat her down.

'Is something bothering you? Someone? Is it school?' Anertha creased her face in thought and shrugged.

 'No, school is fun. Can not wait for my third year!' Her mother looked at her thoughtful.

 'Cocoa?'

Anertha nodded. 'Yes please.' She smiled sleepily. 

Lorelei scurried off to the kitchen again and came back with a mug of steaming cocoa. Anertha took the mug and wrapped her hands around it, inhaling the scent deeply. 'Mmmm, thanks mum.' Lorelei chuckled quietly to herself, it was times like this that she saw her children were still young at heart despite how much they were growing. Anertha took a sip from the mug and slowly withdrew it from her mouth. 'This tastes different to the one I had earlier.' Lorelei raised her eyebrow.

 'You didn't have one earlier.' 

'Yeah...Ced brought it in before bed.' Anertha suddenly looked confused and thoughtful, she went back to her room and picked up the mug he had given her, she handed it to her mother when she returned. 'See?' Lorelei smiled. 

'Well I didn't make it, Cedric obviously just wanted to be nice. That's why it tastes different....' She creased her nose as if she got a whiff of something. She lifted the mug to her nose and sniffed it. 'Coffee. Why would he....' She looked up to Anertha before changing what she was saying. 'Did you see Fred earlier?' Anertha nodded and then her mouth opened in shock.

 'He put coffee in my cocoa because he's acting out over Fred? But it's been like eight months or something, I don't keep track, he's still uncomfortable with it?' Lorelei sighed. Clearly Cedric still hated the idea of his sister being with a Weasley. Anertha frowned, annoyed. He had been so good since their fight, the only explanation was that without the distraction of school keeping his mind from it, it had begun to hate the idea again. Thanks to the coffee now in her system she was up for a few more hours before she finally crashed on the sofa. Her mother had gone to bed with her father when he finally arrived home. Anertha stirred blurry eyed at first light, she was incredibly tired, she could kill Cedric right now. A chipper whistling rang through the halls, Anertha lifted herself up on the elbows to see Cedric emerging from the stairs. He stopped and smirked he saw Anertha on the couch, the twins shared a knowing stare, Anertha's nostrils flared slightly. 

'Morning sister.' He smiled with a raised eyebrow. 

'Morning brother.' She replied sharply. 

'Coffee?' He smirked as he walked into the kitchen. She got up and followed. 

'Sure, but why not stick some cocoa in it to balance out the coffee I had last night.' She said sarcastically. Cedric's head shot up and he turned to look at her.

 'You worked it out huh?' He pursed his lips waiting for the backlash. She just stared him down and walked away. She suddenly had an idea for revenge, she laughed as she ran up the stairs towards the bathroom. Amos emerged from his bedroom. 

'Morning darling.' He kissed her cheek before walking past her.

 'Morning daddy!' She chuckled as she closed the bathroom door. She rummaged through Cedric's draw and found his bottle of shampoo, she eyed it with an evil smirk, she knew Cedric loved his hair a little too much. A short while later she rejoined her brother in the kitchen, her mother had now awoken and the whole family sat together eating, normal chit chatter filling the kitchen. Cedric stretched and yawned. 'I need to go shower. Thanks for the waffles mum.' He kissed her cheek before leaving. Anertha watched him leave, suppressing a laugh. Lorelei and Amos gave her a stern look.

 'What did you do?' Her mother asked. Anertha didn't answer. They got their answer ten minutes later when they heard an exasperated scream from upstairs, followed by thumping feet and a red faced angry Cedric appearing in the doorway. Lorelei took one look at him and her mouth fell open. Amos looked angrily between the pair of them, clearly confused but slightly outraged.

'Treacle?!' He shouted. 'You got me back with treacle?! It's all in my hair and now it's clumping! Anertha that is not cool!' She laughed harder at his reaction. 

'You did deserve sweetheart.' Amos looked at his wife still confused. 'I will explain later dear.' She squeezed his arm and stood up. 'Come on you...I will help get this out. Plus you really need to get dressed.' Cedric didn't move for a minute, instead he looked right at his sister.

'You're mad at me, I get it and I'm sorry for what I did, but treacle?' Anertha just smiled. 

'Come on...move before you freeze.' Cedric let his mother lead him out reluctantly. Anertha turned back to her food but before she took another bite she felt her father staring at her. She looked up and saw him clearly waiting for her to explain. 

'Don't ask dad. It's a long story.' Was all she said before abandoning her breakfast and leaving him behind, she hated it when he stared at her like that.